DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mach [US 9,503,988]
Claim 1. (Original) A communication control method for a terminal (the user’s mobile communication device 100, 210 for a vehicle, see abstract, Figs. 1, 4, 5, col. 1, lines 29-44, col. 4, lines 61-67, col. 8, lines 20-24), comprising: determining whether a notification has been received, by communicating with an object having a communication function and having a function of monitoring a change in operation or state of the object, the notification indicating that the operation or the state managed by the object has changed (the user’s mobile device 210 with a control module 540 controls to communicate with other mobile communication device 220 to receive a notification that the first short-range radio 230 or 550 indicating of mobility state is below the predetermined threshold and the first short range radio connection is not established (changed) after a first predetermined period of time, (see Figs. 4, 5, col. 2, lines 65-67, col. 3, lines 1-22, col. 8, lines 20-29). But
Mach fails to disclose when it is determined that the notification has been received, performing waiting for reception of an announcement signal for establishing short-range wireless communication with an apparatus different from the object. However,
Mach teaches that the user’s mobile device 100 or 210 received the notification indicating of the mobility is below a predetermined threshold and disconnecting the communication with the first short-range radio module 550 for a first predetermined period of time. The control module 540 is also configured to communicate with the second short range radio module 560 to enable the second short range radio after the second predetermined period of time after the first short range radio has been disabled (see Figs. 1, 5, col. 8, lines 20-34).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art to recognize that the second short range radio module 560 is different from the second short range radio module 550 and notification the mobility state is below a predetermined threshold is functionally and operating as the changing mobility state between the first and second short range radio modules 550 and 560, which is obvious as an announcement that is acknowledged and/or recognized by the mobile’s user.
Claim 2. (Original) The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein
the apparatus is a first apparatus, and the object is a second apparatus different from both the first apparatus and the terminal (the user’s first short range radio module 100, 210, 550 is different from the second short range radio module 100, 220, 560 such as a device user’s car audio system to enabling the Bluetooth radio after they turn on their car to pair to the Bluetooth hand-free car kit, and different from the vehicle, see Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5, col. 1, lines 29-34, 45-49, col. 5, lines 33-55).
Claim 5. (Original) The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein
the object is a process running on the terminal (the running or driving vehicle’s engine or engine turn on to operate the car audio system, see col. 1, lines 44-57, col. 5, lines 33-48).
Claim 7. (Currently Amended) The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein reception of the notification includes: reception of a notification transmitted by a server to the terminal after the notification is transmitted by the object to the server, the notification indicating that the operation or the state managed by the object has changed (as cited in respect to claim 1 above, wherein the server reads upon the computer program product configure to managing radio state in the second mobile communication device such as cellular phone, BlackBerry and/or handheld device to transmit a notification of changing ON/OFF state to a cellular network, Wi-Fi network or WLAN network at home or office and then received by the vehicle’s terminal, see Fig. 1, col. 1, lines 26-28, col. 2, lines 26-35, col. 3, lines 23-37, col. 4, lines 31-37, col. 6, lines 22-34).
Claim 8. (Original) The communication control method according to claim 1, further comprising: selecting the object from among one or more candidate objects, wherein the selecting includes: obtaining one or more first timings when the apparatus operates and one or more second timings when the operation or the state of each of the one or more candidate objects changes; and from among the one or more candidate objects, selecting, as the object, a candidate object whose correlation between the one or more second timings of the candidate object and the one or more first timings is at least a predetermined level (as cited in respect to claim 1 above, and including a plurality of short range radio modules 100, 210, 220, 550 , 560 for selecting to communicate, see Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5. The one or more first timings read upon the number of cell changes within a predetermined period of time, which may be set to any time value such as 0, 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes related to that set short range radio module, see Figs. 2-4, col. 4, lines 38-67, col. 5, col. 6, lines 1-55).
Claim 12. (Original) A terminal comprising: a communication controller that determines whether a notification has been received, by communicating with an object having a communication function and having a function of monitoring a change in operation or state of the object, the notification indicating that the operation or the state managed by the object has changed; and a communicator that performs, when the communication controller determines that the notification has been received, waiting for reception of an announcement signal for establishing short-range wireless communication with an apparatus different from the object (as discussed in respect to claims 1 and 2 above).
Claim 13. (Currently Amended) A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the communication control method according to claim 1 above (the non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program, see claim 19, col. 9, lines 49-57).
Claims 3, 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mach [US 9,503,988] in view of Breed [US 2009/0228157]
Claim 3. Mach fails to disclose wherein the first apparatus is a body composition scale,
the second apparatus is a water heating system including a sensor that senses a person in a bathroom, and the notification indicates that the sensor has changed from a state in which the sensor is sensing a person to a state in which the sensor is sensing no person. However,
Mach teaches that the Bluetooth communication of a first apparatus is a user’s first short range radio mobile 100, 210, 550, and the second apparatus is the vehicle’s device such as car’s audio system and/or controlling on/off vehicle engine and speed, see col. 5, lines 33-55).
Breed suggests that any communication device can be coupled with an interrogator that utilizes the MIR, radar or RFID PPS system described above. Many devices are now being developed that make use of the Bluetooth communication specification. All such Bluetooth-enabled devices can additionally be outfitted with a PPS or GPS system permitting the location of the Bluetooth device to be positively determined. This enabling technology will permit a base station to communicate with a Bluetooth-enabled or similar device whose location is unknown and have the device transmit back its location. As long as the Bluetooth-enabled device is within the range of the base station or internet, its location can be precisely determined. Thus, the location of mobile equipment in a factory, packages within the airplane cargo section, laptop computers, cell phones, PDAs, and eventually even personal glasses or car keys or any device upon which a Bluetooth-enabled or similar device can be attached can be determined. Actually, this invention is not limited to Bluetooth devices but encompasses any device that can communicate with any other devices. Once the location of an object can be determined, many other services can be provided. These include finding the device, or the ability to provide information to that device or to the person accompanying that device such as the location of the nearest bathroom, restaurant, or the ability to provide guided tours or other directions to people traveling to other cities, for example (see Fig. 11, para [0185, 0186]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art before the effective filed date of the invention the add or implement the application of using Bluetooth communications between a person and bathroom to provide information of Breed to the first and second Bluetooth short range radio modules of Mach for extending application and use of the short range Bluetooth communications to a person or user with greater convenience or reliable information either at the vehicle or in a bathroom.
Claim 9. (Original) The communication control method according to claim 8, wherein
the one or more first timings are one or more timings when a body composition scale
measures a body composition value of a user, the body composition scale being the apparatus, and the one or more second timings are one or more timings when a water heating system including a sensor that senses a person in a bathroom changes from a state in which the sensor is sensing a person to a state in which the sensor is sensing no person, the water heating system being the object (as cited in respect to claim 8 above and the combination between Breed and Mach in respect to claim 3 above).
Claims 6, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mach [US 9,503,988] in view of Toriumi et al [US 2015/0145693]
Claim 6. Mach fails to disclose wherein the apparatus is a basal body temperature scale, the process is a process of an application software that activates an alarm of the terminal at a predetermined time, and the notification indicates that the alarm has changed from an activated state to a non-activated state.
Toriumi et al suggests that the basal body temperature needs to be measured in bed before arising. However, the user (person to be measured) takes labor to operate the portable terminal and to cause it to receive measurement data from the thermometer immediately after she wakes up. This may be applicable to measurement of blood pressure or the like, for example (see Fig. 1, para [0037]).
Alarm stop includes "regular stop" and "temporary stop." An alarm is not output again after the alarm is stopped in regular stop. That is, the alarm function is set OFF in regular stop. Therefore, an alarm is not output again until the alarm function is set ON by a user's setting instruction in regular stop. On the other hand, an alarm is output again after a second predetermined time since the alarm is stopped in temporary stop. The re-output function by which the alarm is output again after a second predetermined time since the alarm is stopped is called a snooze function. Temporary stop in the snooze function includes a user's stop instruction and automatic stop without a user's stop instruction within an alarm duration (such as one minute). This snooze function can be set ON/OFF. The number of snoozes and an interval between snoozes can be set in the snooze function. The number of snoozes is the number of times of repeated alarm output. For example, when the number of snoozes is set at 2, the (first) alarm is output again after a second predetermined time (which will be called "snooze time" below) since the alarm is stopped, and the (second) alarm is output again after the snooze time since the first alarm is stopped, and then an alarm is not output. The snooze interval corresponds to the snooze time until an alarm is output again after the alarm is stopped.
The data reception control unit 272 may make a transition to the data reception standby state immediately after an alarm is stopped, or may make a transition to the data reception standby state after a transition time set less than a time required for user's body temperature measurement. The transition time is a time until the transition to the data reception standby state after the alarm is stopped (after the stop of the alarm). By the way, it is desirable that the standby time until the measurement data being actually received after the transition to the data reception standby state is shorter (see Figs. 3A, 3B, 4, para [0046-0049]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art before the effective filed date of the invention to add or implement the measurement a basal body temperature data for controlling the alarm on/off state over the transition time of Toriumi et al to the first and second Bluetooth short range radio modules of Mach for extending application and use of the short range Bluetooth communications to a person or user for monitoring his/her health and physiological conditions to provide safety to that person.
Claim 11. (Original) The communication control method according to claim 8, wherein
the one or more first timings are one or more timings when a basal body temperature scale measures a basal body temperature of a user, the basal body temperature scale being the apparatus, and the one or more second timings are one or more timings when a process of an application software that activates an alarm of the terminal at a predetermined time changes from a state in which the alarm is activated to a state in which the alarm is not activated, the process being the object (as cited in respect to claim 8 above, and the combination between Mach and Toriumi et al in respect to claim 6 above, and wherein the processor 510 and control module 540 operate under control of a and executes code or instructions in the form of software stored in program memory 520, see Fig. 5, col. 2, lines 26-63, col. 7, lines 47-57, col. 9, lines 49-57).
Conclusion
Claims 4 and 10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Liu et al discloses the method is provided for vehicle-to-vehicle communication among vehicles having wireless communication links. Upon receiving notification of a sudden change in vehicle behavior, a vehicle broadcasts a priority message to surrounding vehicles within a transmission range. If an emergency event has occurred, a repeat cycle is defined for re-broadcasting the message, and a maximum number of initial repetitions for the message is specified. [US 2005/0088318]
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from examiner should be directed to primary examiner craft is Van Trieu whose telephone number is (571) 2722972. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Mr. Wang Quan-Zhen can be reached on (571) 272-3114.
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/VAN T TRIEU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
02/27/2026